


Hey, soul sister

by Elisexyz



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Episode: s02e06 Tallahassee, F/M, Introspection, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-05-29
Packaged: 2020-03-20 04:42:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18985495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elisexyz/pseuds/Elisexyz
Summary: The morning after meeting Neal, Emma steals twenty dollars from him.





	Hey, soul sister

**Author's Note:**

> Tfw you are so used to giving canon the finger that you automatically start inserting the canon divergence tag even in a canon compliant fic. LOL.  
>  Title from [here](https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/train/heysoulsister.html).

 

The morning after meeting Neal, Emma steals twenty dollars from him.

She finds them under the seat, and she pockets them before she has fully realized it – after all, it’s only smart to grab money when you see it, if you are living on the streets and have no job.

It doesn’t take long for Neal to realize that they are missing, which is hardly a surprise, considering that he’s as broke as she is. It’s time to grab some breakfast, and he started looking for the money when he offered to buy her something too.

(To repay her for agreeing to let him stay in the car for the night, he said, ridiculous as her claim on it may be, considering that, with him still inside, hers probably only counts as _attempted_ stealing.)

“I could have _sworn_ I had twenty bucks here _somewhere_ —” he mutters, diving into his backpack and looking into every pocket.

In his place, Emma would have immediately assumed that the stranger in the car with him had stolen the money. It’s basic math: twenty dollars don’t just disappear into thin air and street kids are not trustworthy.

Instead, Neal scratches the back of his neck and throws a nervous smile her way. “Sorry, I must have lost them somewhere,” he says, apologetically. “I can, uh, lift us something though.”

Emma might be a bit of an asshole, but not _this_ much of an asshole.

She holds onto her twenty bucks – because it’s _twenty bucks_ , and he shouldn’t have left them lying around like that to begin with, and, well, if she gets the car she gets everything that’s inside too, right? –, but she offers a small smile.

“I can help,” she says, casually. “I’ve got a quick hand.”

Neal grins at her with appreciation radiating off him, and her smile widens automatically.

 

Their first theft together is a success, and they get a bag of doughnuts out of it.

“You know, it’s actually easier with a partner,” Neal comments, as they eat sitting on the hood of the car.

Emma raises her eyebrows at him, but her stomach twisting on itself is proof that she already knows what he’s getting at.

“I mean, I know we said we’d only stay together for the night, but— I’m kinda tired of being alone. You think we could give this a try?”

“‘This’ being…?” she prompts, slowly.

“A criminal partnership?” he offers, with a teasing grin that makes her roll her eyes to try and hide her amusement.

“You just don’t want to give up the car, admit it,” she replies, and yes, she’s avoiding answering, because— honestly, she’d like it. She and Neal click well, especially for two people who barely know each other, and life on the streets isn’t sunshine and roses, it’s probably a hell of a lot better with some decent company.

Yet, her track record when it comes to trusting people to have her back is pretty concerning.

(And that would be the understatement of the century, actually.)

Now that she’s out of the foster system she was supposed to build a life for herself, to start anew, without having to rely on people who didn’t give a crap about her— choosing to stay with Neal might not be too wise.

“Guilty,” he jokes, biting his doughnut as casually as possible. She can still see a flicker of disappointment on his face.

Oh, what the hell.

“One week,” she says, before she can think any better of it. His head snaps in her direction. “We try this for _one week_ , and see how it goes.”

He beams at her, smiling from ear to ear. “Agreed,” he immediately says, and he seriously looks like a kid on Christmas morning, it’s pathetic and too adorable to snort at.

(She still has those twenty bucks. If things go South, that’s enough to buy a ticket to somewhere else.)

 

 

-

 

 

“I’m going to grab some lunch,” Emma announces, deciding that it’s time to put a stop to the growling of her poor stomach.

“Need a hand?” Neal offers, raising his eyes from the hole in his jeans that he’s trying to patch up. She kinda expected him to destroy his poor fingers in the process, but he seems to be surprisingly decent at it.

“I think I’ve got some money somewhere—” Emma mutters, diving into her backpack. They almost got caught shoplifting at a local grocery store, yesterday, and she’s had a rough night, so between how tired she feels and the uncomfortable memory of how it was only dumb luck that saved them the last time she really doesn’t want to steal if she can help it, not today at least.

With a bit of digging, she ends up finding money alright, just not exactly the money that she was looking for: stashed in a small pocket, there are those twenty bucks that she stole from Neal when they first met, more than a month ago now. It seems like a lifetime has passed.

She hid them for safekeeping, as an ever-present way out in case things started turning to shit the way they always tend to do for her and she needed to flee somewhere else. An insurance policy that she ended up almost forgetting about.

“Found anything?” Neal calls, still waiting to know if he’ll need to assist in getting them something to eat.

Emma’s fingers close around the twenty bucks, her lips twisting into a small smile. “Yup. No running from the cops today,” she announces, lightly.

She’s starting to doubt that she’ll need that insurance policy anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> This story is part of the [LLF Comment Project](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject), which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including: 
> 
>   * Short comments
>   * Long comments
>   * Questions
>   * “<3” as extra kudos
>   * Reader-reader interaction
> 

> 
> If you don’t want a reply, for any reason, feel free to sign your comment with “whisper” and I will appreciate it but not respond!


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